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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28414197">Not Quite A Christmas Grinch</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sincerelyhwang/pseuds/sincerelyhwang'>sincerelyhwang</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stray Kids (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, M/M, Minho is a sap, blink and you'll miss it jilix, but late, domestic as hell, hyunjin is a christmas hoe, issa christmas fic, whatever</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:53:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,445</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28414197</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sincerelyhwang/pseuds/sincerelyhwang</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lee Minho doesn't do Christmas. Or carols. Or singing.</p><p>But here he is, about to learn the lyrics to a certain Wham! song because the love of his life starts celebrating Christmas on November 1st.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Minho | Lee Know</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>79</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Not Quite A Christmas Grinch</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Prompt was taken when I searched for Christmas fic prompts: To impress her, he learns all of the words to her favorite Christmas carol. And he doesn’t even like carols. Or Christmas. Or singing.</p><p>And if this isn't the most hyunho thing I've seen.</p><p>Was supposed to be a Christmas fic but oh well</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Minho looks down at the lyrics sheet placed neatly on the table in front of him, before looking back up into the eager face of one Han Jisung.</p><p>“Remind me why I’m doing this again?”</p><p>“Because the love of your life is a Christmas hoe who loves Christmas songs,” Jisung supplies unhelpfully. “Also because you’ve been in love with him since forever. And also because I’m a genius.”</p><p>“One of those is not like the other.”</p><p>“Lying is a sin, Lee Minho.”</p><p>“You already know I’m going to hell, what difference would this make?”</p><p>“The point is-” Jisung says, with a tone to suggest that he just knows Minho’s trying to deviate <em>(“best friends since diapers baby!”)</em>, “-you’re doing this because <em>Last Christmas</em> is, for some unfathomable reason, Hyunjin’s favourite Christmas song.”</p><p>“You know it’s because he’s a romantic-”</p><p>“And even though he’s never even been in another relationship because you guys are practically soulmates and is in all sense of the words, a blushing relationship virgin, it’s still the first song in his Christmas playlist and you think it’s cute that he’s obsessed with it.”</p><p>“He’s dedicated,” Minho defends, although he’s aware that it’s an extremely weak justification. “I appreciate dedication towards one’s passions. Also for the record, he’s no longer a virgin.”</p><p>“I despise you for telling me that,” Jisung wrinkles his nose at Minho’s last words, perfectly aware that Minho was not going to be seeing reason when Hyunjin was involved. “Your poor excuses aside, you’re going to sing <em>Last Christmas</em> to him because you’re secretly a sap and want to impress him for some reason. It’s not like you two haven’t been together since, I don’t know, your last year of high school or something.”</p><p>Minho immediately grabs at the papers left in between Jisung and him, rolls them up, and swats Jisung over the head with them. His best friend yells at the assault and tries to wrestle the roll away from him, eventually succeeding without damaging the sheets too much.</p><p>“In all seriousness though,” Jisung continues, unfurling the sheets and straightening them as best as he can with his bare hands and the surface of Minho’s dinner table. “I think it’s a cute idea and you should go for it. I’m all for encouraging acts of love especially when it’s my favourite couple involved.”</p><p>Minho snorts, although a small smile makes its way onto his face. “I don’t know, singing isn’t really my thing. Neither is Christmas.”</p><p>“And that’s why Hyunjin will love it. You said it yourself, he’s a romantic. He’s gonna love his favourite man singing to him his favourite seasonal song.”</p><p>“You say it like he has a favourite woman.”</p><p>“Duh it’s Mrs Hwang, are you really going to be jealous of your boyfriend’s mom? Hyung I didn’t know you were this possessive.”</p><p>Minho closes his eyes and takes a deep, long breath.</p><p>He really needs to start going for those meditation classes he saw on a flyer the other day; being friends with Jisung is not good for his health.</p><p>But meditation can wait, he thinks as he glances back at the slightly crumpled sheets containing the lyrics to <em>Last Christmas</em>. He isn’t all that good at singing, and he’s not the biggest fan of Christmas, but it would be worth seeing his boyfriend’s smile.</p><p>...or at the very least his laughter when he hears Minho’s warbling attempts.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Jisung loves telling people that Minho fell in love with Hyunjin after saving the latter from potentially being roadkill.</p><p>They’ve hung out together with their group of mutual friends, so Minho’s already had a fair idea of what Hyunjin’s like. Hyunjin has always been clumsy and unaware of his physical surroundings, while Minho has reflexes that could rival their school’s baseball MVP Kim Seungmin.</p><p>He just saw the car speeding up ahead while Hyunjin was chatting with Jisung, and dashed to pull the pair back by their elbows right as the car ran by. Both Hyunjin and Jisung’s eyes had widened in shock at the close encounter, and Hyunjin turns his head to Minho, who in turn is treated to what could be best described as “the cat from Shrek’s aegyo eyes”.</p><p>As Jisung puts it quite succinctly, it’s the sparkly anime eyes that were his downfall, and what also made him realize <em>oh fuck I have a crush on Hwang Hyunjin</em>.</p><p>The very next week Minho goes up to Hyunjin, asks him out for dinner, and the rest is history.</p><p>
  <em>It’s a date, and not as friends but something more. Hyunjin do you hear me?</em>
</p><p>It turns out Hyunjin had been crushing hard on him too, and had been ever since Minho lent him a pen the one time he forgot to bring his pencil case to school.</p><p>“Typical Hyunjin,” Changbin had guffawed when Minho was retelling Hyunjin’s confession. “He’s always been like that even when we were kids, always falling in love with the first person who so much as treats him nicely.”</p><p>“They never saw past his looks though,” Changbin grunted out, and Minho could hear his tone souring a little at the memories. “Never made it to a second date cause they all thought he was boring and too sensitive. I spent a good part of middle school and the first half of high school letting him crash my room to cry, and treated him to ice cream to help him get over those heartbreaks.”</p><p>And Minho knows what Changbin’s getting at; knows this is Changbin’s way of giving him the shovel talk. He also knows this is his boyfriend’s best friend’s way of letting him know once more what a relationship with Hyunjin would entail.</p><p>It wasn’t difficult to develop a crush on Hyunjin: Hyunjin who’s startlingly gorgeous, who’s sweet and hilarious, who’s introspective and self-aware, who’s loving and passionate.</p><p>It was however tough to maintain that crush, for Hyunjin came with his own set of faults that Minho quickly picked up on a couple of weeks into their relationship. He’s whiny and needy and gets cripplingly insecure at times, and bristles easily when Minho thinks he’s making a mountain out of a molehill. </p><p>Frankly, they clash a lot as a couple. Even more than Hyunjin and Jisung had when Minho first introduced them to each other (and that says a lot as they had a six week cold war before just laughing out all the tension one day).</p><p>But they work through it. They talk things out.</p><p>Minho refuses to let Hyunjin get into his head too much, and Hyunjin learns when to give Minho his space after arguments.</p><p>They give and return to each other and slowly but surely, things run their course. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Minho often thinks he’s lucky that his reciprocated crush is someone as beautiful and kind as Hyunjin, and he voiced that sentiment out the first night they spent together in their shared apartment.</p><p>They were cuddling on the couch, relaxing on it after having spent the whole day unpacking. Their position didn’t stop Hyunjin from gently butting heads with him and lightly chastising him about how Minho was every bit as beautiful, and that he’s every bit as lucky to be dating the boy he fell in love with.</p><p>“Hyung you’re so handsome and confident and suave, and you look out for me and listen to me. How could I not fall in love with you too?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Minho snickered, “how did you still continue to love me after finding out I hate Christmas?”</p><p>“I think I went home and cried to Binnie-hyung on the phone about how the love of my life is basically the antithesis of my entire being, but he just laughed and hung up on me.”</p><p>And Minho wanted to go on a spiel about how Christmas was just one giant capitalistic holiday, and that it was not a good reminder for people who lost their families, and that it was also cold as <em>fuck</em>. Good, solid reasons to hate Christmas.</p><p>But Hyunjin pouted, and Minho is but a mere mortal, so his righteous energy leaves him as soon as it arrives and he leans over to kiss the pout away. He’s rewarded with his boyfriend’s sappy smile and he can just feel his own forming to match.</p><p>“It would’ve been a great bonus if you were, then we can do all the coupley stuff like wear matching Christmas sweaters and decorate the tree together and go out and play in the snow,” Hyunjin started, as he snuggled his face into the curve of Minho’s neck while Minho’s arms tightened around his waist. “But I suppose every Christmas lover needs their own personal Grinch so you’re mine to keep.”</p><p><em>Jesus take the wheel, I am so in love with this man</em> Minho thought quietly to himself as he carried Hyunjin to their bed that night, the latter having fallen asleep mid-cuddle. It would seem insignificant to others, but anyone who remotely knew his boyfriend would only be all too aware of how much his boyfriend could practically be the patron saint of Christmas.</p><p>And here he is, four years later, about to sing <em>Last Christmas</em> to his boyfriend of six years.</p><p>He’s never really understood why Hyunjin likes the song, given how it was about broken hearts on Christmas and Hyunjin’s only serious relationship all his life is with Minho. He remembers asking Hyunjin this once, to which the younger started prattling on about how it was “bittersweet and kinda sad hyung; imagine falling in love with your soulmate on Christmas only for them to just break your heart the very next day, and it’s all about being wary of relationships and looking out for yourself-”</p><p>Minho lost the plot halfway through his rambling, but it’s okay because his boyfriend’s cute when he’s passionate about something. He vaguely remembers distracting Hyunjin with a kiss that day, and tries not to think about how the next ten minutes will play out.</p><p>He’s always been confident and calculated, always playing well within his realm of comfort while occasionally expanding that zone to try out new things whenever he deems himself ready.</p><p>And it’s not like he hasn’t sang before: the memory of the noraebang party their friend group had for Chan’s graduation resurfacing briefly at the thought, but that was when he was half drunk with a giggly Hyunjin on his arm and it was a bunch of young adults slowly trying to find their way into the world while grasping desperately at the last remnants of their youth. In short, it was just for laughs.</p><p>But Minho’s singing to impress today. And while Jisung had hyped him up for it the whole of last week, and deep down he knows Hyunjin would love him even if he were to bark his vows at the altar-</p><p>
  <em>Okay maybe not, as established prior Hyunjin’s a romantic, and he would probably kill even Minho if he were to ruin their wedding day.</em>
</p><p>-Minho still wants to make Hyunjin proud. And oh god he’s truly, madly, deeply in love with this fool-</p><p>“Penny for your thoughts?”</p><p>He barely has the time to look up before the subject of said thoughts drops onto him without any hesitation, immediately attaching himself to Minho’s side and lanky arms finding their way around him. Minho slips an arm around his lover’s slim waist and gives it a comforting squeeze, his lips instinctively finding its way to the top of Hyunjin’s head to drop a kiss. He feels the barest hint of Hyunjin’s smile on his neck before a light kiss was pressed onto his neck.</p><p>“Why do you ask?” Minho murmurs gently, immersing himself in the warm cozy atmosphere now that Hyunjin was right where he belongs (in his arms).</p><p>“Your eyebrows are all scrunched and you’ve got your really intense stare going,” his boyfriend quips, his head slowly perking up to put himself in Minho’s line of sight. “Also your eyes are doing the thing where you squint a little and your eyeballs slide up, almost like you’re solving a maths equation in your head.”</p><p>“How are you not certain that I wasn’t solving a maths equation in my head?”</p><p>“You’re a lawyer babe, why would you even need maths equations?”</p><p>“Fair point,” Minho chuckles, feeling his eyebrows slowly unknit themselves as Hyunjin’s face lights up over his unexpected small triumph. “How was the daycare?”</p><p>“It was okay,” Hyunjin purses his lips, eyes losing focus a little as he tries to recall his day. “Jeongin’s the one who got peed on today so I helped him wipe down Heeseung while he went to get changed. Then Ryujin’s mum overran her shift so she came by half an hour after closing to pick Ryujin up and that sucked cause it’s why I got home late.”</p><p>Minho frowns, he knows how much Hyunjin loves his job, loves the kids and his coworkers and is delighted about how he’s “actually making a change Minho, I’m impressioning upon young kids and setting them up for the start of their lives!” It's truly inspiring seeing his beloved bright eyed at the thought of making his mark, even though Minho’s never really been one to ponder about his existence and impact. </p><p>He can’t help but worry though, worry about how much Hyunjin is willing to give at his own expense. But just as he starts rubbing comforting circles on the younger’s lower back, opening his mouth with all intents to check in on him, Hyunjin barrels on.</p><p>“But we had loads of fun throughout the day, we sang Jingle Bells and the kids wouldn’t stop shaking the tambourines off beat but they were all really happy.” Hyunjin’s gushing again and Minho feels himself relax at the positive energy the former is radiating. “Also I gave them blank Christmas tree outlines on pieces of paper and they went wild, Yuna coloured her tree pink and I know it’s not that deep and she’s probably just obsessed with the colour but I’m glad to see her exploring her creative side more.”</p><p>Hyunjin’s getting excited talking about his daycare kids again, and normally Minho would be content to let him prattle on about his day in detail (just like how Hyunjin would listen to his drivels in legalese despite comprehending nothing, all while fixing him his necessary cup of morning coffee), but he’s feeling antsy and really kind of wants to get his surprise done and over with.</p><p>So he gives his boyfriend a couple of light taps on the waist and relaxes the arm he has ensnared around his waist, and Hyunjin immediately wriggles his way out of Minho’s embrace and slides off of the sofa. He shoots Minho a look of curiosity, but Minho pretends he doesn’t see it as he strides off to retrieve the guitar that he borrowed from Jisung.</p><p>On top of the lyrics, Jisung had insisted on Minho to play a guitar as accompaniment, drilling four simple chords that he could repeat for every section of the song. He had also demanded that Minho borrow his guitar as a form of “best friend favour that I can cash back in for whenever I need to”.</p><p>
  <em>“Hyung I swear, you know Hyunjin has a thing for guitars right? Now imagine if you were to sing to him his favourite song while strumming the guitar, he might just propose to you on the spot!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Let’s hope not, I already bought the ring.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You what?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I was going to propose to him during our anniversary next year,” Minho sniffed, his hand coming up to try and close Jisung’s dropped jaw. “It’s been six years already and I think we’re ready for the next step.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Heck, you guys are gonna have kids by next Christmas methinks.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Maybe you should focus on getting Yongbok to date you, methinks.”</em>
</p><p>Annoying Jisung and his nonexistent love life had been fun, but Minho was silently grateful at how his best friend was endlessly supportive of his relationship with the way he had patiently taught Minho the finger positions and how to produce a decent strum.</p><p>As he hefts the guitar upon his shoulder and saunters back to where Hyunjin’s waiting for him, Minho pretends he doesn’t notice the way his boyfriend’s eyes widen in surprise upon catching sight of the instrument concealed in its bag.</p><p>He’s carefully removing his best friend’s “gift” from its bag, taking heed to not accidentally drop or scratch it, before proceeding to settle down and make himself comfortable on the sofa he and Hyunjin were just cuddling on a mere five minutes ago. Minho gently rests the guitar upon his legs, just the way Jisung had taught him to, before patting the empty space next to him.</p><p>Hyunjin gets the hint and sits himself down gently on the sofa, his eyes lit with poorly concealed eagerness as he takes in the sight of Minho and the guitar. “Are you going to play the guitar?”</p><p>“Maybe,” Minho teases, his right hand caressing the strings right above the sound hole in a downward motion. He’s met with his boyfriend’s sparkly anime eyes and knows he’s made the right decision in letting Jisung strong arm him into this. It’s only when Hyunjin shows no sign of further interruption does he silently take a deep breath, before doing a downward strum of the first chord and singing out the first line of <em>Last Christmas</em>.</p><p>The chords are fairly simple, two C major strums, two A minor strums, two D minor strums followed by two G major strums. Wash, rinse and repeat. Minho’s not the most coordinated of people, but he goes slow. Slow enough to gather his thoughts and recall the lyrics he had so painstakingly memorized, all while letting his muscle memory shift his fingers into the right positions.</p><p>And just like that, he manages to get through his little performance. His hands felt large and awkward, and there was a small moment when he had messed up and resang the lines of the first verse instead of the second verse, but he had just carried on singing the words committed to memory while trying not to mess up his strumming.</p><p>He doesn’t think anything’s amiss until he hears the sniffle.</p><p>Startled, Minho looks up into Hyunjin’s teary eyes. And he’s known from the beginning that Hyunjin is a crier, but it never fails to surprise him every time his boyfriend starts blubbering over the last thing Minho expects him to cry over.</p><p>“Was my singing that bad?” he jokes weakly, taking care to put the guitar aside in a safe spot before reaching up to wipe a few stray tears off of Hyunjin’s face.</p><p>His boyfriend gives him a watery smile. “It’s nothing big really,” he lets out a wet laugh, his hands coming up to circle his fingers around Minho’s wrists. “I’m just, really touched? And really really thankful. I think. I don’t really know I’m just really overwhelmed and full of love for you right now.”</p><p>And then he flings himself at Minho, arms wrapped around his neck and Minho remembers that Hyunjin’s actually kinda tall and not small so he accepts the hug with a small grunt of surprise.</p><p>“Hey,” Hyunjin whispers, a couple of moments later when he’s stopped sniffling.</p><p>Minho makes a small hum, a way to let Hyunjin know he’s listening.</p><p>“I love you. A lot.”</p><p>“Love you too Hyunnie.”</p><p>They remain in that position until Hyunjin complains with a pout that he’s hungry, so they finally get up to order food in. Hyunjin’s whining for hot chocolate as he punches in the number of their local Chinese restaurant so Minho gets up from the sofa to make him some.</p><p>He’s adding a handful of small marshmallows on the top of the hot chocolate when he remembers about the small box hidden in a sock in his chest of drawers, and resolves to start making plans after Christmas.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The next year, Minho proposes to Hyunjin in the middle of one of their guitar sessions (he’s started taking lessons from Jisung). They were scheduled to wed next autumn (no he won’t bark his vows), and were discussing child adoption when they pulled over at Chan’s house for the annual friend group Christmas potluck.</p><p>Jisung had given him a smarmy grin when he sees the engagement rings on their fingers, and ran to hide behind Changbin when Minho took a threatening step toward him.</p><p>And Minho thinks that maybe he should’ve made a bet with Jisung the previous year about turning up with kids this Christmas, but oh well there’s always next year.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>After a week I'm finally done :') Big thanks to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/flying_dream"> flying_dream </a> for letting me bitch and lowkey cry in her DMs and to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/unluckitty"> unluckitty </a> for watching me lowkey have a breakdown, picking me up then beta-ing half of this.</p><p>You can find me on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/sincerelyhwang?s=20"> here </a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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